1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge recording apparatus and a method for recovering liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a water-based ink for ink-jet recording (hereinafter referred to as a “water-based ink” or an “ink” in some cases) has been using, as a solvent, a volatile organic solvent (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-147243). In the recent years, however, there is a demand for the water-based ink to reduce the generation of any VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds), in view of protection of the global environment. For this purpose, there are proposed measurements such as reducing the blending amount (content) of the volatile organic solvent in the water-based ink, as using a water-soluble organic solvent which is non-volatile with respect to the water-based ink, etc., so as to reduce the generation of the VOC (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-128969).
In the recent years, there is an increased demand for further reducing the generation of VOC as the consumption of ink is increased due to, for example, the improvement in recording speed. On the other hand, in a case that a non-volatile organic solvent is added to a water-based ink as the countermeasure against the VOC, the quick-drying property during recording and the spreading into a recording medium such as a recording paper (recording sheet), etc., are not sufficient, making it difficult to satisfy the property or performance as a water-based ink adapted for a high-speed recording. In view of the situation described above, there is a demand for a liquid discharge recording apparatus, such as an ink-jet recording apparatus, which is adapted to the high-speed recording as well as capable of further reducing the generation of VOC more than the conventional technique.
An object of the present teaching is to provide a liquid discharge recording apparatus and a method for recovering a liquid which are capable of reducing the generation of VOC.